Hi Miriam,
     I thought that I was reading about my own institution when  I started
     your posting.  We are doing the same thing.  Luckily, our collections
     are currently in 1 wing of the building and it is not suppost to be
     effected while the new section is being built.  Our new exhibits - and
     visitors- will then go to the new section, our collections will move
     upstairs to a part of the old section that will have then been
     renovated for collections storage then the old section where
     collections are currently stored will be  renovated for offices.
     It took a lot of preplanning and I still wonder if we can pull the
     timing off but when they asked me to draw up a budget for storing
     off-site for several year over 100,000 items, I just said "no.  It
     isn't even an option and I don't have time to do an exercise in
     futility.  There is no reason to even think of storage so why bother."
     I know this will not be business as usual and I certainly don't know
     what I will do with thousands of items coming off current display but
     I am determined to manage the situation as best I can.
     We have no disaster plan in place for objects so I have started a fire
     under all who need to be involved in that and set a deadline of
     June 30 to have a draft ready to present to our governing board at
     their July quarterly meeting.  Then at least AAM and ASTEC
     reaccreditation committees can't say I haven't tried.
     I can't afford to or even want to package  all the objects so I will
     weatherstrip the openings to the storage area, get everything up off
     the floor as we are in the basement and have water pipes running
     overhead, put heavy plastic drop clothes over storage cases,
     have wet-vacs, fans and dehumidifiers ready or spotted, know where I
     can get refrigerated trucks at a moment's notice (especially at 2
     a.m.)----
and pray that we don't have a fire because much of our collections are stored in
homemade wooden cases.

I would appreciate it if you would share any good ideas with me as they come in,
Good luck,
Carole DeFord
Cranbrook Institute of Science
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: protecting collections during construction
Author:  Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> at CEC-INTERNET
Date:    4/8/96 11:31 AM


I am the registrar at a small/medium historical society.  We will be
breaking ground for an expansion to our facility this summer, with full
construction starting by August.  Does anyone have any advice, horror
stories, or suggested reading for me about how to protect our collections
during construction?  Moving everything off-site is not an option due to
financial constraints.  The collection is varied, including archives,
library materials, textiles, jewelry, framed art, sculpture, furniture,
and all types of three-dimensional artifacts of everyday life.

Responses are welcome on or off list, and I would be happy to summarize
off-list postings at some point.  I look forward to varied and helpful
comments, guaranteed on Museum-L!
 _________________________________________

Miriam Albahari
[log in to unmask]
Jewish Historical Society of Maryland
"Miracles sometimes occur, but one has to work terribly hard for them."
                                                -Chaim Weizmann